Which makes the game quite tedious and repetitious. Not only is a "safe" location NOT safe, it is almost always repopulated with almost exactly was there before. (Excluding, perhaps, the initial Boss opponent.) If the site was populated by Supermutants, the replacement population will be Supermutants. If it had been ghouls, it will be ghouls. If it was Raiders, it will be Raiders again. Not only will the replacements be the same, they tend to be in the same location within the site as the originals. This makes it sooooo easy to sneak up on the replacement population: "I need to be careful about going around the corner here because there is a Raider in Power Armor stationed there. Better to snipe that guys from over there where there's good cover and a decent line of sight."

Logically -- if the term is even usable in a video game -- why would the replacements choose to move in to the site of ______'s Last Stand? I can just see a group of Raiders coming upon a location strewn with Raider bodies and thinking to themselves, "Hmm. Something or someone just wiped out the Raiders that were here before us. This is an ideal site for us to set up camp! We won't even have to change any of the defenses!"

It is a tad bit on the "fast" side I agree. But I also have to say: it seems a bit variable. I've gone back to a location mere MINUTES after clearing it to find it now (seemingly) populated with Super Mutants (might have just been a roving band of them though), and then other places I've gone back to literally a week in game time later and found it still derelict.

There does seem to be some 'random encounters' roaming around the map or something.

One of the things I find quite immersive: I'll be skulking around in the inner city, not shooting at anything, not stalking anything. Not seeing any baddies (or goodies or anything). Suddenly I hear a fire fight break out a couple blocks away. Seems like the mobs and NPCs in the world are a lot more 'dynamic' than in vanilla Skyrim for example. I'm constantly encountering raider groups that have been ambushed out on the roadways, no where near a raider camp, and I often see the bodies of caravaneers or settlers in strange locations that suggest they were randomly spawned to roam through the area and got capped by some other random spawning mob.

Mechanically, there are a couple things I would like to change. One is to randomize just what comes next at a given site (provided that there is no quest associated with the site). Second, if a site is a quest location, do NOT repopulate that site at all until the quest is initiated. (After the quest is completed, then randomize replacement populations.) And overall, do not repopulate sites for at least a week of in-game time.

Mod it to your tastes when modding tools are out. I like areas repopulating quickly myself.

Something tells me, what we got is pretty much what we are gonna get as far as vanilla, but of course mods will make all kinds of magic possible.

I really enjoyed the "Immersive Patrols" mod for Skyrim. But I can see why the developers didn't include anything like it. There are one or two spots where warring faction patrols tend to collide and there was a constantly replenishing supply of loot to be had from those locations.

Yea I cleared this raider spot, forget the name, it's on the east coast..anyway I cleared it out, slept for 1 hour to heal and awoke to about 3 of them that had already respawned

It's a little broken all the safes, loot etc is up for grabs again! The exact same enemies again aswell is a little tiresome

I agree with what's been said already, zones repopulate too fast and arent fluid. Mods will fix this when the tools are made available to do so. I'd like to have enemies replaced with a random type once the initial "cleared" status is reached to make the map feel more dynamic.

Wait until you're trying to go to the same spot for some reason and then it'll seem too long. It is a week in game time. Sometimes i see one or two before that but not everybody. Many mini bosses respawn including behemoths. I havnt found a recurring mirelurk queen. Also for minute men and repeatable quests I think will respawn sooner if you get a mission. Not only are they the same type I believe they are the same exact base model but can adjust their level and gear depending on your level. Not only that you've been tagged as having done damage to them so for instance if you go with a companion and they kill them but you dont touch them you get credit, same if they get killed by some other npc even if it's 2 deathclaws fighting each other for the 2nd time.

If you're going to the same repeatable quests all the time it gets old. What i found though is most those areas are short and contain a quick exit that you already have the key for unless its chained from the other side. So for a repeatable quest you can skip most of it, go straight to the quest marker, kill the boss and get a quick 400 exp quest completion. Some of the ammo stockpiles and weapons rooms may be worth revisiting though.

All I do is build settlements in the game (level 43 PS4) so I don't mind the fast respawn b/c a pipe rifle is 4 steel and bigger weapons and better armor scrap for a lot of steel.

I could care less about the kid unless he got drafted in the NBA and is making a million caps so I can buy more concrete. Concrete shack foundation FTW!

I just found a mod for anyone who needs, if you're on the PC. It lets you http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/4649/?s.

I personally am nervous about downloading mods prior to the GECK release. I remember the skyrim debacle with corrupted game saves.

I think not downloading mods now is the safer option

and @ Syringe2TheKnee amazing how much fun you can have just building isnt it!?

I killed a group of super mutants outside of a building, and then went inside for a short stay. When I went back outside around five minutes later they had all re-spawned lol.

As a particular example, the Revere Satellite Array is occupied by some big nasty fellows that I wiped out. I passed by there two days later, and they were back... so I wiped them out again. Then I had occasion to set up settlements on both the North and West-Southwest of the location. Setting up a Supply Caravan between the two meant that it would pass close enough to attract the Array's occupiers' attention. So I went in and wiped them out a third time. Then I passed by the very next day and it was yet again occupied.

It's like trying to bale water with a sieve; no matter how often you bale, the container just fills up again. So what is the point of marking ANY location "Cleared" if it just repopulates almost immediately?

Just anecdotal but . . . is it mainly Super Mutant locations that seem to respawn the fastest? That seems to be the case for me. I cleared the factory infested with raiders and went back to it several days later (to pick up junk) on more than one occasion and didn't see any more of them. It definitely DOES eventually respawn and the previous points about it respawning EXACTLY the same loot, mobs etc. definitely does apply.

But I'm wondering if raiders respawn as rapidly as say muties or ghouls?

I too have noticed that super mutant locations seem to respawn very rapidly but in truth it might be a different mechanic than the one that handles most interior cells?

I've been traveling across the Commonwealth and encountered what seemed to be roving bands of super mutants who were attacking other mobs, not me. I encountered one between Red Rocket and Sanctuary; I encountered one northeast of Cambridge; I encountered one southeast of that (closer to radioactive crater) none of which are close to "Super Mutant named locations." This makes me think that maybe there are something like randomly spawning super mutant bands and that a good portion of what people are experiencing as cleared locations respawning is accounted for by that?

I for one like a game world that has a lot of baddies in it, and when I start modding I plan to add so many baddies to the map that just getting to Diamond City from Sanctuary will be a serious challenge and generally lead to death. Raiders who actually raid, and super mutants who actually attack, slaughter and pillage would be nice. Given I can jog from Sanctuary all the way to Nordhagen Beach at level 40 and generally not even encounter a SINGLE engagement, I think that "respawning" is not the problem overall. A map that doesn't have enough bad guys on it, and locations that are just simply too easy to clear would be the issues I'd seek to alter, but I'm speaking in terms of modding not in terms of changes I'd hope for the vanilla game.

Most modders seem to have switched away from using SNIP, and are only using FO4 Edit. SNIP is what gives/can give the corrupted saves problem. Also any mods that only call batch files to issue console commands aren't going to ever be a problem anyway, unless the console is suddenly a dangerous thing.

It is annoying, but hey, more loot! I think of it as the weekly supply convoy.

A bit quick but I think its better, it really killed the whole deal in skyrim if I cleared out a place and a quest sent me back to it and everything is dead except for the one guy I need to kill. I also noticed different enemies can show up as I cleared out Gunners from an area and when I returned for loot the whole place was filled with regular raiders.

The respawn speed works out pretty well I think, how else am I gonna make my settlers be Gunner look-a-likes at a reasonable speed?

There are a lot of random spawns in the game. One is the mutants, your example by red rocket is just one of a ton of places they can turn up. They do wander and attack whatever they encounter. The higher level you get the more dangerous they are. I ran into a pack of four yesterday that had a suicider and three skirmishers with missile launchers. My last character got 3 overlords with miniguns, BoS killed the fourth by crashing a vertibird on it's head. But still, ouch.

Raiders have randoms too. There have been many occasions I've cleared an area that had no raiders, fast travelled to dump loot, fast travelled back, and was immediately greeted by raider gunfire. I've even had this happen with a sentry bot instead of raiders.

Deathclaws start to appear in areas they never were before once you hit a certain level threshold as well.

Have to stay on your toes in The Commonwealth.

I like it. Good digs are at a premium, it wouldn't take long for a gang to take up residence (though I agree the enemy type should vary).

Also, it' nice to find a dungeon with choice loot, then swing by whenever the "Junk Fairy" rolls through. I've salvaged ridonkulous amounts of steel and aluminum from the Corvega plant.

This is why I find the game to be a chore without fast travel. People keep saying how many things you miss out on when fast travelling, but all I ever encounter are enemies of the same variety occupying the same locations. Sorry, I′ve already cleared Andrew Station four times, I'd rather bypass it, than meet some level-scaled raiders again.

I′ve met all the traders, and if there are any encounters not involving the standard wasteland foes, I've yet to run into them...

Yep.

Still much better than the original Borderlands, where enemies respawned before you even got out of an active area.

There are also no children in the settlements which breaks the realism of the game.

They should bring back the karma system and if you kill a kid make the character 100% evil in the eyes of the world if they kill a kid.

Still, the settlements repopulating makes things more player friendly in my opinion.